Book banning, the Booker, and a Disability Pride Guest Rec

Plus Julia Whelan is everywhere and 20 diverse mysteries by women

Hey, readers!

In last Sunday’s New York Times Opinions Section, Pamela Paul shared an essay claiming that “there’s more than one way to ban a book.” I’ve been stewing about this piece all week and decided that—without getting too in the weeds about it—I needed to share a few of my thoughts here. Paul’s basic claim is that while conservative parents and politicians are working to ban books in classrooms around the country, progressives are waging their own book banning campaign in the Big Five publishing houses. They’re doing this, according to Paul, because they don’t want books published with ideas they don’t like and they’re waging this war with employee walkouts and bad online reviews. Book banning and editorial gatekeeping are important topics and ongoing concerns, and Paul’s claims here are disingenuous and harmful.

The thing is, this goes beyond a false equivalency. Paul’s claims are a complete nonissue. You can tell this isn’t actually a trend because Paul relies on a handful of extreme anecdotes to make her claim rather than pointing to any real data. She includes the outcry over acquisitions of books by Mike Pence, Josh Hawley, and Woody Allen. There are so many errors in this line of thinking. There’s the fact that outcry was largely about the amount of money publishing houses were putting into the pockets of these men rather than sheer displeasure over the books getting published. There’s the reality that each mentioned author already has a robust public platform through which to communicate their messages. And, of course, there’s the fact that each of these men still got a book deal in the end.

But my biggest issue with Paul’s piece is the absurd claim—quoted below—that publishing decisions are based solely on how good and important a book is.

It is certainly true that not every book deserves to be published. But those decisions should be based on the quality of a book as judged by editors and publishers, not in response to a threatened, perceived or real political litmus test. The heart of publishing lies in taking risks, not avoiding them.

I can’t roll my eyes hard enough at the idea that until now, books were published solely on their merit alone. We know that historically women have been left out of the publishing industry, and still today authors of color are drastically underrepresented in the books hitting shelves. This is not because of a concerted effort to keep out diverse voices, but because the people sitting on editorial boards, the ones making these decisions, view their own subjective lenses as a marker of “quality.” Paul shows her hand in this quote, revealing just how badly she wants to maintain the status quo. Who determines the quality of a book? According to Paul, that’s “editors and publishers.” And despite the industry’s stated attempts to diversify, those serving in editorial and publisher roles at the big houses remain largely white. This is the gatekeeping anyone who loves books and ideas ought to be fighting against.

Pamela Paul was the editor of the New York Times Book Review for over a decade before joining the opinions section. She understands the makeup of the publishing world, and she certainly knows that one powerful person’s opinion can make or break an author’s career. To me, what this opinion piece really shows is a fear that the book world might be democratizing just a little bit—that readers, hobby reviewers, book sellers, librarians, and the employees and interns in publishing houses themselves are starting to have more influence over what we see on the shelves and on the bestseller lists.

Let’s continue to democratize the book world by purchasing, reading, and reviewing books by underrepresented authors. Let’s support independent publishing houses and small diverse imprints putting out truly risk-taking works. And let’s save our outrage over censorship for government bans on marginalized voices in public schools and libraries.

This week in books.

This week I read…

• The Promise by Damon Galgut. I decided to pick up last year’s Booker Prize winner since the 2022 longlist will be announced this week. Galgut’s writing is impressive, and I’m marveling at the way he manages to skewer his characters without tipping totally into satire. In some ways, the novel feels like a Greek tragedy, and I have a feeling there’s a lot more in store for the Swart family even though I’m already two thirds of the way through the book. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. I don’t know if I’ll read the entire Booker longlist, but I hope to make a decent dent in it so when I saw this 70 page novella on the list, I decided it would be up first. This book is breathtaking. It’s truly amazing how much history, character, and emotion Keegan manages to fit into such a slim story. I don’t want to say much about it since it is so short, but it takes place in a small Irish village in the 1980s. It follows a father of five daughters as he discovers important details about his past and his town alike. The writing is truly astonishing and the book is so short, so I think everyone ought to give this book a try. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

Now I’m reading…

• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Hoping to wrap this one up soon so we can record our discussion episode of Novel Pairings. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

• The Trees by Percival Everett. I’m making my way through the Booker longlist and this one is hard to read but absolutely phenomenal. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

• A few more titles that I’m keeping under wraps for now in anticipation of an exciting upcoming project!

Guest Recommendation: What Doesn’t Kill You by Tessa Miller

I’ve long wanted to include guest book recommendations in the newsletter, and today I’m thrilled to share a recommendation from my good friend and one of my favorite readers, Katharine Scrivener. Katharine is the reader and writing behind @readwithkat and the wonderful literary newsletter Life with Kat. She is also a cystic fibrosis advocate who shares her experience with chronic illness through her channels, and I asked Katharine to share a book recommendation with us as we come to the end of Disability Pride Month. I hope you’ll not only pick up her recommendation, but follow along in her journey through her Substack.

Being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a chronic and terminal illness, at the age of 16 was a life-altering moment. And I’ve spent much of my adulthood trying to come to terms with what it means and, more recently, unlearning society’s ableism that I’ve internalized. What Doesn’t Kill You by Tessa Miller was such a personal and emotional read, and I felt seen in ways I don’t often experience in my reading.

While Miller’s disease (Chron’s) and life experiences are different from my own, the mental and emotional toll is similar. CF has complicated all aspects of my life – my career, whether or not to have children, relationships – and I’ve had to grieve, many times over, who I thought I would be, what I thought my life would look like. I am always looking for books that share a similar experience, and Miller’s book is about as close as I’ve come.

Miller tells her personal story of being diagnosed and living with Chron’s and does a fantastic job exploring the many challenges that come with being chronically ill, through an intersectional lens. From work and relationships, to insurance and doctors, Miller shares her stories with a blend of a personal and journalistic perspective. She poignantly depicts the various struggles and challenges that come with being chronically ill, and I underlined countless passages. Of course there were aspects I either couldn’t relate to or that I felt were not accurate to my experience (CF is such a unique disease, and a terminal one), but that will likely be true of anyone who reads this since no two people are the same.

Throughout her story, Miller includes advice for people who have a chronic illness as well as ways non-disabled people can support them. Because of this, I highly recommend What Doesn’t Kill You to anyone living with a chronic illness, but maybe especially to those who aren’t.

Katharines’s Favorite Books: Tiny Beautiful Things, Beartown (and Us Against You), With the Fire on High, What My Bones Know, The Force of Such Beauty, Know My Name, The Stationery Shop, anything Talia Hibbert or Jasmine Guillory, Wintering, Red White & Royal Blue.

For more recommendations from Katharine, be sure to subscribe to her newsletter and follow her on Instagram.

Links I love.

The Booker longlist was announced this week and American authors dominated.

Audiobook narrator Julia Whelan has a new book of her own coming out this week and she has been everywhere. I’ve loved learning more about her and the world of audiobooks through profiles in The New Yorker and The New York Times.

Nine works of fiction by journalists.

Check out what five books inspire Booker longlisted author Leila Mottley.

20 diverse works of crime fiction by women.

Eight surprising new food memoirs to add to your TBR.

Books to read before they hit the screen later this year.

End notes.

As I watch less TV and struggle to find new podcasts, it’s gotten harder to fill specific categories each week so I’m mixing up my “End notes.” I hope you enjoy it!

Five things making me happy this week:

1. New Little Sleepies for Louise (and maybe a matching pair for mama…).

2. Planning our fall season of Novel Pairings. We’re announcing the fall lineup of books on our Patreon this week!

3. Watching Lou discover lift the flap books. She is so into them and I love that she’s reaching for books as her first choice toys. A few of her favorites are Dear Zoo, Into the Woods, and Where’s the Car?.

4. Bringing back my Align bike shorts. I wore these nonstop throughout my pregnancy and this heat warrants busting them out again. They are truly the most comfortable item of clothing I own and I can’t believe I ever stopped wearing them.

5. The Ruth Ozeki interview Ezra Klein re-aired on his podcast. She is brilliant and it’s a must-listen.

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Readers, I hope you enjoyed Katharine’s guest recommendation and found some more books for your TBRs. For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

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Happy reading!

Sara